Of Saviors and Strays
by DarkLightningEnvy
Summary: 230th Tumblr Follower Prompt: Emma finds a little stray kitten and tries to hide it in the station to nurse it back to health. Regina finds out.


"Come here, kitty…"

The tiny mewl in response almost broke Emma's heart. The kitten was so small, its grey fur matted to its body as it limped backwards and away from the blonde. It's leg was injured, and it was absolutely terrified. Emma had been walking down Main when a flash of grey had caught her attention, and she had followed a streak of said color into an alley. This was where she had found the kitten, which was too injured to run any further away.

"Come on," Emma coaxed, her hand extended. She was on her knees on the concrete a few feet away in an attempt to not startle or make the poor thing feel threatened. Every time her hand got too close, the kitten's fur would rise on its back, and his eyes would glaze over in warning. She had gotten hissed at a few times, too, but Emma hadn't backed down. She wasn't going to just leave it out here.

After yet another rejection, Emma decided that it was time for another approach. Sitting back on her heels, the blonde gazed around in thought. Finally, she rose from the ground and jogged back to her yellow Bug, returning a moment later with strips of chicken from her meal acquired from Granny's. That did the trick. She needed make the injured animal come to her once it extended its neck out to smell the chicken; she inched forward instead, shredding the chicken and setting a piece down in front of the beautiful grey creature. A little victory flag went up in her head when she finally had it eating out of her hand, maybe five minutes after she started feeding the animal in the first place.

"Come on," Emma said softly, reaching out and gently lifting the now trusting cat into her arms. She made sure to be careful of its leg; it was twisted at an odd angle, clearly broken, and hanging limply to imply that it wasn't even useable anymore. Emma's favorite companion she'd had for a little while in the past was a dog, but she had a weakness for cats. And this little guy was going home with her, once she got him fixed up a little and talked to Mary Margaret. A conversation she almost wasn't looking forward to, because despite the woman's intense love for almost all animals, she didn't seem to get along very well with felines.

The drive back to the station was short, and spent with the kitten in her lap. It was a she, from what she had discovered; Emma hadn't named her yet, though, and wouldn't until she got a better idea of the personality she was dealing with. One hand held the steering wheel, the other carefully running her fingers through knotted fur in an attempt to free it and make it easier to brush out later. She was pretty indifferent; just lay across her lap and purred, but didn't make any move to get more of the affection. Whether because she was injured, or not much of a people person, Emma had no idea. When she got out and carried her inside, into her office, the stray simply lay on her desk and stared at her with tired, pained eyes.

Emma wasn't exactly an expert at this, but she knew David was. One phone call to him later, and a threat for him not to say anything to Mary Margaret, the man was sitting down on the floor with the cat, carefully tending to her broken leg. All those hours volunteering at the animal shelter must have paid off, then. "She's beautiful," David said as he finished wrapping the small leg up. "Are you going to bring her to the shelter for adoption?"

Emma worried her bottom lip. "I don't know," she admitted. "I want to keep her. I just have to talk Mary Margaret into it."

David's brow went up. "She doesn't like cats."

"I know. Hence the 'talk into it' part."

She didn't want to take the 'good luck with that' look David gave her seriously, but she found herself quietly huffing anyway. When David finished up and handed Emma some small pills – pain medicine, he told her – Emma thanked him and took the instruction sheet he also offered her. Once he had two bowls set up in the corner of her office, one filled with proper food, the other with water, he made his leave. She definitely couldn't have gotten better help from anyone else, that was for sure. Sitting on the floor next to the tiny kitten, she scratched behind her ears, smiling gently at the purr that escaped. Apparently, feeding her chicken and taking her to get her leg fixed up made them friends.

xxx

Emma learned very quickly in the next few days that Mary Margaret was the least of her problems. The kitten had been named Sneaky, and rightly so; even with a broken leg, she would slink her way around Emma's legs while the blonde tried to get from her office to speak to someone in the main station, and more than once she ended up in the cell with Leroy. The drunken man had screamed – yes, screamed, like the masculine lady he was – and tried to stomp on Sneaky, almost succeeding due to her broken leg not allowing her to move as quickly as she likely could have before. The incident ended in Emma almost clocking him unconscious, and huddling with the animal in her office. It was the next day that she got a visit she wasn't quite expecting or happy about.

"Miss Swan, a word?"

The office was mostly glass, so she knew Regina Mills could see her attempting to hide something. Emma slipped Sneaky into the small cage David had brought to her for a 'just in case' scenario like this one, and carefully locked it up. "I'll be back," she said quietly to the stray, nudging the cage beneath her desk before walking over to the office door and turning the lock. When she opened the door, Regina's brow was lifted into her hairline, and she was staring suspiciously at Emma.

"You are aware that law and political buildings are to be free of animals," Regina stated as Emma shut the office door behind her and leaned against it. "Being the Sheriff of my town, I would have assumed you'd read the protocol when you were promoted in the first place."

The blonde wanted to roll her eyes. Always with the formalities, the ways to attempt to demean Emma with her words. Emma was getting really tired of it. Of course she had read the protocol, but where else was she supposed to keep the poor thing? She wasn't taking it to Mary Margaret's until Sneaky's leg healed. She had originally intended on using the injured animal excuse, but knew the brunette would start to hint on finding another home for her once she fully healed up. So she was just going to be straight and simple with her friend, and hope for the best.

If Regina didn't manage to get to Sneaky first, at least.

"Don't give me that look, Miss Swan," Regina said, voice low in warning. "I know you have a cat in here somewhere. Leroy was kind enough to share the story of how he almost stomped it's head in while he was locked up the other night."

Damnit, Leroy. Emma was going to throttle him. He had probably gotten drunk again and announced it in Granny's diner, trying to sound impressive, when she was sure he just sounded like a total jerk. Of course Regina had been present.

"She's hurt, Regina," Emma said quietly. "I'm just keeping her here until she heals, and then I'm taking her home with me."

"And what makes you think that's acceptable?" Regina asked, taking a step closer; Emma's back pressed more firmly against the door, unwilling to let Regina inside. She didn't even know if that was the Mayor's intent, but it had been Emma's first instinct, and her instincts rarely ever failed her.

"Mary Margaret doesn't like cats," Emma answered. She knew it wasn't exactly an excuse, but she wasn't going to lie, either. "I don't want the cat in the house while she's injured. As much as I think Mary Margaret would look after her, I just don't have a good feeling about it. So I'm waiting."

"Your issues with your roommate don't interest me in the least, Sheriff," Regina said shortly. "I want that animal out of this station. Tonight." Regina didn't have to voice the underlying threat; _or I'll remove it myself. _It was all in her eyes, and Emma was ready to fight back before thinking better of it. She had a plan. Even Regina shouldn't be able to resist a cute little kitten like Sneaky. Turning, Emma pushed open the office door, heading into the room and crouching down in front of the small cage, which she opened. Sneaky streaked out immediately and towards the door; limping a little more now than she had been for the past few days, but still moving a lot easier than she had been when Emma had found her.

With a small smile, Emma watched as the stray cautiously approached Regina, who was scowling down at her with something close to a sneer. But then Regina's eyes caught the wrapped up leg, and she seemed to soften a little; the scowl turning into that of mild concern. The look vanished quickly, and Emma's smiled widened a little. She almost laughed out loud when Sneaky rubbed against Regina's ankle with a small meow, and Regina almost dropped the papers in her hand in surprise.

"I think she likes you," Emma said as she approached the door again, folding her arms as she leaned against the doorframe. Regina looked up at Emma, then back down at the quietly purring cat, which rubbed against her ankle again and looked up at her with sweet black eyes.

"I see that," Regina said quietly. Thankful she wasn't in a skirt today, she carefully crouched down to the cat's level – or what she could consider to be the cat's level – and swept her eyes over her little body in a once over. "What happened to it's leg?"

"I'm not sure," Emma said honestly. "It's broken. I found her in the alley down on Main. She could run all the way up until she got there, but then it just hurt her too much. I couldn't just leave her out there."

Sneaky had gotten close to Regina's hand now, and the brunette Mayor was eying her cautiously. "She doesn't bite or scratch," Emma said helpfully. "She's just playful. She hits my hand a lot, but nothing with claws." She watched at Regina reached a tentative hand out, running the full flat of it along Sneaky's head and down her body. A little victory dance went on in Emma's head when Regina's features melted as Sneaky's back arched up into the attention of Regina's hand.

"Perhaps…" Regina cleared her throat, looking anywhere but at Emma. "Perhaps she can stay with me until she heals. Henry could use the responsibility for a little while." When she finally did look at Emma, she saw the blonde gaping at her, eyes wide. "_Only_ until she heals," Regina said firmly, expression more threatening than Emma had ever seen it. "I will not have cat hair all over my floors and furniture."

Smiling, Emma nodded. She could see the look of adoration slowly crossing Regina's features as the feline rubbed against her hand and butted her head against her knee, demanding more attention from the Mayor. Emma had to wonder if Regina had experienced this kind of behavior before. Even if it was from an animal, Sneaky seemed to be showing more desire for Regina's attention than Henry did, and the blonde could already see it in Regina's face.

It didn't matter what Regina said in the end. Sneaky had found a home.


End file.
